Michael Parenti - Land of Idols: Political Mythology in America

This book made available by the Internet Archive.

In memory of Rudy Lozano, Manuel De Dios, and Danny Casolaro

Their land is also full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. Their land also is full of idols.

Isaiah, 2:7,8

These idols are not just crude images, such as the mental picture of God as an old gentleman on a golden throne, they are our beliefs, our cherished preconceptions of the truth, which block the unreserved opening of mind and heart to reality.

Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity

The demand to abandon illusions about our condition is a demand to abandon the conditions which require illusion.

Karl Marx

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010

http://www.archive.org/details/landofidolspolitOOpare

One of the persistent ideological teachings in the United States is that our society is notably free of ideological teachings. Ideology supposedly is something imported from alien lands, as with "Soviet ideology." Likewise, myths are something that ancient or primitive peoples believe in, as in "ancient Greek mythology," and are not to be found in our modern secular society. True, we Americans have our beliefs about patriotism, religion, the undeserving poor, and the self-made rich. We reject as "conspiracy theorists" and "Marxist" people who see powerful interests running most of this country. And we seem sure that Marxism is a false or irrelevant "doctrine," although many of us are not sure what it is. We also have ideas about class, race, and gender relations and about the diverse and democratic distribution of power in our "pluralistic" society. All these conventional American beliefs are not seen as myths or ideology but as legitimate understandings of the real world.

In this book I argue that such beliefs are themselves myths and ideologies and that our political culture is riddled with mythologies that serve conservative class interests and keep us from fully pursuing our democratic interests. These mythologies are widely disseminated and remain largely free of critical examination. Some of them are developed into well-articulated ideologiesalthough never called thatand are consciously propagated by political leaders, media pundits, academics, and others. They offer justifications for capitalism, the free market, U.S. global interventionism, and attacks on alternative ideologies and systems.

The most insidious forms of ideology are those that are not identified as ideology but are seen as the natural order of things. They do not emerge spontaneously and full-blown, but are disseminated through the dominant institutions of society, serving as instruments of social control. In contrast, dissident and iconoclastic views, such as found in this book, are accorded only Hmited exposure or are sometimes subjected to outright suppression.

This book is divided into three sections. Part One (chapters 1 through 4) deals with myths that encourage political acquiescence to existing power relations in society. These include a number of notions not usually thought of as political per se, as found in New Age ideology, religiosity, and superpatriotism.

Part Two tries to correct the confusions around the concept of "class" prevalent in both mainstream social science and sectors of the left (chapter 5). In violation of the orthodoxy that exists across most of the political spectrum, chapter 6 introduces the reader to the continuing relevance of Marxism. Chapter 7 treats culture as something more than just an innocent accretion and shows the links between dominant politico-cultural views and the structural interests that support, and are supported by, them. Chapter 8 offers a critical treatment of class myths and biases.

In the final section of the book, chapters 9 and 10 treat the historic origins of racism, its functions for capitalism, and the relation of racism to class reality. Chapter 11 attempts the same with the victimization of women, emphasizing the sometimes neglected economic realities and functions of sexism and male oppression. The closing chapter treats the ever-persistent question of conspiracy and intent. Are critical perspectives of U.S. society nothing more than paranoid imaginings, or are they representative of reality? Is it true that, unlike the rest of us, the rich and powerful do not act with conscious intent?

Some academicians believe that before you say what is on your mind, you must give account of what is on everyone else's mind. This is demanded especially of those who take a position critical of the conventional wisdom. While I do give some attention to the mainstream literature, I spend most of my time developing often neglected and misrepresented dissident views. That is the purpose of this book.

This book tries to act as a catalyst to critical thought and does not pretend to be exhaustive in its treatment of the literature or in its presentation of data. Much of the evidence supporting the arguments herein has been developed in earlier works of mineto which I frequently refer the reader, rather than having to duplicate previous efforts. Still, I believe this book can and should be read as an independent work, one that offers its own range of critical ideas and evidence regarding political mythology in the United States. Rather than being a rigorous, tightly composed social science monograph, it is a discursive series of essays linked by some basic underlying themes, designed to get students and lay readers thinking about the unthinkable.

In the struggle for social justice and democracy, we must traverse a land of idols. The idols have been fashioned by those who would have us worship at an altar of their own making. I believe such worship is not a suitable vocation for a democratic people. The goal of this book is to divest ourselves of the myths that limit our understanding of political reality and undermine democratic viability. The hope is that the reader comes away with a more critical perspective of the idols of political orthodoxy and a more determined commitment to the substance as well as the forms of democracy.

Michael Parenti Berkeley, California

Sally Soriano and Peggy Noton rendered much valuable assistance in researching and critiquing this book. Useful reference materials were provided by Helen Grieco, Caryn Brooks, and my son, Christian Parenti. My thanks to all of them. My editor at St. Martin's Press, Don Reisman, once more proved to be as thoughtful and helpful as any writer might hope. Other people at St. Martin's, including Frances Jones, Emily Ber-leth, and Rich Wright of Omega Pubhshing Services, also deserve mention, as do Jeffrey A. Halley, The University of Texas at San Antonio; Dennis Kalob, Loyola University; Donald McQuarie, Bowling Green State University; Dolly Mullen, University of North Carolina-Asheville; Philip T. Neisser, Potsdam College; Dennis L. Outwater, Suffolk University; and Thomas Simon, lllinois State University for the reviews they did of portions of the manuscript.